CNBC Daily Open: The heat is truly on COP28

An attendee checks a smartphone whilst walking past Al Wasl dome in the Blue Zone ahead of the COP28 climate conference at Expo City in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. More than 70,000 politicians, diplomats, campaigners, financiers and business leaders will fly to Dubai to talk about arresting the world's slide toward environmental catastrophe.

Mixed November
Asia-Pacific markets ended November on a sluggish note . Japan's Nikkei 225 closed 0.5% higher, clocking monthly gains of more than 8%, while South Korea's KOSPI finished the day up 0.6%, advancing more than 11% this month. China's CSI300, which tracks the largest blue-chips listed in the mainland, was up 0.3% in mid-afternoon trade and was set for a monthly loss of more than 2%, making it the worst performer in the region. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong swung between gains and losses for the day and was set to decline nearly 1%. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had ended Wednesday near the flat line , but the major averages were on track to log their biggest monthly gains this year.

Tortuous China growth
China's factory activity contracted for a second straight month in November, while non-manufacturing activity hit yet another new low this year, signaling that the world's second-largest economy was still not out of the woods and may require more policy support. The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index unexpectedly inched lower to 49.4 in November from 49.5 in October, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics released Thursday. This was slightly lower than the median forecast of 49.7 in a Reuters poll.

Rebooting OpenAI
Microsoft will have a non-voting board seat at OpenAI , the company announced Wednesday. The move quells some of the remaining questions about Microsoft's interest in the startup after a turbulent month that saw the company's controlling non-profit board fire and then re-hire CEO Sam Altman. Earlier, Microsoft did not have official representation on the board of directors that controlled the startup, and was blindsided by OpenAI firing Altman.

Auto unionization
The United Auto Workers union is launching an unprecedented campaign to organize 13 non-unionized automakers — including Tesla, Volvo, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, Honda and Toyota — in the U.S. in a drive that will cover nearly 150,000 autoworkers from after securing record contracts with the Detroit automakers. Meanwhile, shares of General Motors popped 9% Wednesday after the company said it was working to regain Wall Street's confidence heading into 2024 with several investor-focused initiatives following a tumultuous year of labor strikes and setbacks in its plans for electric and autonomous vehicles.

Three stocks are on the verge of taking off, according to a chart pattern closely watched by technical analysts. The phenomenon, known as a "golden cross," occurs when a stock's 50-day moving average share price rises above the longer-term 200-day moving average. Wall Street regards the pattern as a bullish sign for a potential rally.